NCSE Evolution Education Update for 2010/09/03

Dear Friends of NCSE,
The Institute for Creation Research appears to concede defeat in its
lawsuit over its graduate school. Plus selected content from RNCSE
30:3 is now available on-line.

ICR CONCEDES DEFEAT OVER ITS GRADUATE SCHOOL
The Institute for Creation Research is apparently conceding defeat in
its lawsuit over the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's 2008
decision to deny the ICR's request for a state certificate of
authority to offer a master's degree in science education from its
graduate school. The United States District Court for the Western
District of Texas, finding that "ICRGS [the Institute for Creation
Research Graduate School] has not put forth evidence sufficient to
raise a genuine issue of material fact with respect to any claim it
brings," granted summary judgment to the defendants in a June 18,
2010, ruling. It was not until the September 2010 issue of the ICR's
Acts & Facts, however, that the ICR seems to have publicly commented
on the decision, with Henry Morris III, the ICR's chief executive
officer, writing, "ICR's legal battle is over."
Information about the graduate school vanished from the ICR's website
over the summer of 2010, but writing in Creation Ministries
International's Journal of Creation (forthcoming 2010; 24 [3]: 54-55),
Chris Ashcraft reported, "On 25 June 2010 the ICR board of directors
voted to close the Grad School," citing a June 30, 2010, e-mail from
Henry Morris III. Replacing it, apparently, is the ICR's School of
Biblical Apologetics, which offers a Master of Christian Education
degree; Creation Research is one of four minors. The ICR explains,
"Due to the nature of ICR's School of Biblical Apologetics -- a
predominantly religious education school -- it is exempt from
licensing by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Likewise,
ICR's School of Biblical Apologetics is legally exempt from being
required to be accredited by any secular or ecumenical or other type
of accrediting association."
For the court's ruling (PDF), visit:
http://ncse.com/webfm_send/1380
For NCSE's collection of documents from the case, visit:
http://ncse.com/creationism/legal/institute-creation-research-graduate-school-v-paredes-et-al
For Morris's article in Acts & Facts, visit:
http://www.icr.org/article/5527/
For Ashcraft's article (PDF), visit:
http://nwcreation.net/articles/Is_there_a_future.pdf
For the ICR's explanation of SOBA's status, visit:
http://www.icr.org/soba/faq/#q11
CATCHING UP WITH RNCSE
Selected content from volume 30, number 3, of Reports of the National
Center for Science Education is now available on NCSE's website.
Featured are George F. Bishop, Randal K. Thomas, Jason A. Wood, and
Misook Gwon's "Americans' Scientific Knowledge and Beliefs about Human
Evolution in the Year of Darwin" and Shelley Emling's "Mary Anning:
Fossil Hunter." Plus reviews of Richard Dawkins's latest as well as
books for children about the Scopes trial, Darwin's adventures, and
even Darwin's marriage.
If you like what you see, why not subscribe to RNCSE today? The
upcoming issue (volume 30, number 5) features articles debunking
young-earth creationist claims about geology, with Kevin R. Henke on
helium diffusion in zircons, Lorence Collins and Barbara Collins on
the formation of polonium halos, and Tom Ballieul on the creationist
use of polonium halos (which have been billed as "creation's tiny
mystery"). Plus there's the usual batch of news, reviews, and
commentary. Don't miss out -- subscribe (or renew) today!
For the selected content from RNCSE 30:3, visit:
http://ncse.com/rncse/30/3
For subscription information, visit:
http://ncse.com/membership
Thanks for reading! And don't forget to visit NCSE's website --
http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on
evolution education and threats to it.
--
Sincerely,
Glenn Branch
Deputy Director
National Center for Science Education, Inc.
420 40th Street, Suite 2
Oakland, CA 94609-2509
510-601-7203 x310
fax: 510-601-7204
800-290-6006
branch@ncse.comhttp://ncse.com
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Antievolutionists Say the Darndest Things

Antievolutionists often express outrage over alleged incivility from those who oppose their efforts to evade the establishment clause of the First Amendment. But they have no difficulty in dishing out the abuse themselves. Here is a sample from the Invidious Comparisons thread that documents egregious behavior on the part of the religious antievolution advocates.

IDC advocate Jonathan Wells:

These critics include embryologists, paleontologists, biochemists, molecular biologists, medical doctors, philosophers, and even lawyers. Unfortunately, the North American science-and-religion establishment has largely turned a deaf ear to these critics, preferring instead to abandon classical theology and embrace metaphysical materialism and moral relativism. But I see the situation as analogous to the last years of Soviet communism. A small, powerful elite controls all the official information outlets while the evidence against the official position swells quietly, like a wave building offshore. Someday soon, to the surprise of many people in academia and the media, the wave will break. I predict that the Darwinist establishment will come apart at the seams, just as the Soviet Empire did in 1990.